Mucky Duck owner praises employees

The owner of the Mucky Duck pub Monday praised two employees who were shot by a patron Saturday, saying their heroic actions protected others from harm.

"Our security guards are heroes," said Eric Waddell. "This is not something that would normally happen (in downtown Monterey) and these gentlemen put themselves in front of our employees and patrons and anyone else who was involved. They definitely did an amazing thing."

Waddell, who also commended the response by Monterey police, said security cameras showed the club's bouncers followed a strict protocol that could reveal the identity of the attacker.

The gunman arrived at the restaurant with two women and two other men, Waddell said. Per protocol, each person was told to look up into a camera before entering. Bouncers then conducted shoulder-to-ankle pat searches of each of the men. They were well-dressed, and none was carrying a gun, he said.

When the two women became "mouthy" around 1:30 a.m., employees asked the group to leave. Two of the men left, while the third remained behind with the women. The two had been gone for 10 to 15 minutes, Waddell said, when the security guards escorted the remaining trio outside.

Once on Alvarado Street, the man who was being taken out punched one of the guards. According to witnesses, Waddell said, the two other men returned simultaneously and one of them opened fire, presumably with a gun that had been retrieved. Two bouncers were wounded, as well as a patron.

All three remain in Bay Area hospitals. Waddell said family members tell him each of the men is stable and talking. A source close to the injured patron said he is facing a complicated surgery later this week to repair shattered blood vessels.

The families and Monterey police are protecting the identities of the men, at least until an arrest is made. Monterey Deputy Police Chief Phil Penko said the men were well enough to be reinterviewed Monday by a detective trying to reconcile witness accounts.

Penko said a number of people have come forward with information about the suspect and his associates. While there are "consistencies" among the accounts, witnesses see events from different perspectives, he said, and detectives are hopeful the victims will complete the puzzle.

While there were no cameras trained on the outside of the Mucky Duck where the assault happened, the victims' detailed descriptions may enable police to determine which of the men captured by the entrance camera is the shooter.

"Our number one priority is to identify the suspect and make an arrest," he said. "This is an anomaly in Monterey, and we're certainly not going to tolerate it."

Penko said the last shooting in downtown Monterey occurred Dec. 7, 2003, when two men were shot in the West Garage on Tyler Street. He said he could not recall an earlier shooting, and crime data dating to 2000 did not reveal another shooting on Alvarado Street.